- Tag every link you control outside your website: emails, social posts, ads, QR codes and partner links.
- Always use source, medium and campaign, in lowercase, from an agreed list.
- Never put UTM tags on links between pages of your own website.
- Capture UTM values on your forms so each enquiry carries its source into your CRM.
What UTM tracking is
UTM tracking means adding short tags to the end of a link so your analytics can tell where a visitor came from. Without them, Google Analytics often lumps visits into broad buckets: an email click can show up as "direct", and a LinkedIn post can be indistinguishable from someone's bookmark.
A tagged link looks like this:
https://yourdomain.com/services/it-support?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nov-2026-cyber-guide
Everything after the ? is for your analytics. The visitor still lands on the same page.
The UTM parameters and what they mean
| Parameter | What it records | Example |
|---|---|---|
utm_source |
Where the traffic came from | newsletter, linkedin, google, partner-site |
utm_medium |
The type of channel | email, social, cpc, referral, qr |
utm_campaign |
The specific campaign or push | nov-2026-cyber-guide, spring-webinar |
utm_content |
Which link or version, if there's more than one | header-button, footer-link, video-post |
utm_term |
The paid keyword (mainly for search ads) | managed-it-support |
utm_id |
A campaign ID, if you track campaigns by ID | cmp-0142 |
Use source, medium and campaign on every tagged link. The others are optional. In Google Analytics 4, these values show up as dimensions such as Session source / medium and Session campaign.
How to use UTM parameters: the rules that matter
UTM tracking only works if everyone tags links the same way. These rules prevent most of the mess.
- Use lowercase everywhere. Analytics treats
LinkedInandlinkedinas two different sources. - Agree a fixed list of sources and mediums, and keep it in a shared sheet. Decide once whether it's
emailore-mail,socialororganic-social. - Use hyphens, not spaces. Spaces break links or turn into
%20. - Name campaigns so they sort: year, month, then topic, for example
2026-11-cyber-guide. - Never tag internal links. Putting UTM tags on links from one page of your site to another overwrites the original source and wrecks your data.
- Match Google's mediums for standard channels so GA4 groups traffic correctly. Use
emailfor email,socialfor organic social,cpcfor paid search andreferralfor partner links.
How to build a UTM link
You don't need to type them by hand. Google's free Campaign URL Builder creates them for you: paste in the page address, fill in source, medium and campaign, and copy the result.
For a small team, a simple spreadsheet works just as well and keeps everyone consistent. Add columns for the page URL, source, medium, campaign and content, and a formula that joins them into the finished link. Everyone uses the sheet, so the naming stays clean.
Shorten long tagged links with a link shortener if they'll be printed or shared on social media. The tags still work after shortening.
What to tag
Tag every link you control that points to your website from somewhere else:
- Emails: newsletters, sequences, sales emails and email signatures
- Social posts: organic posts, profile links and company page buttons
- Paid ads: Google Ads tags links automatically if auto-tagging is on, but tag other ad platforms yourself
- QR codes: use a tagged link, so offline traffic from print and events is visible
- Partner and directory links, where you can choose the link
- PDFs, proposals and presentations that link to your site
You can't tag links other people create, such as a journalist linking to you. Those show up as referrals, which is fine.
Connect UTMs to enquiries, not just visits
Knowing a newsletter brought 200 visits is useful. Knowing it brought six enquiries, two of which became clients, is what lets you decide where to spend time and money.
To get there:
- Set up key events in GA4 for form submissions, phone clicks and email clicks, so you can see which sources lead to enquiries. Our guide to how to use Google Analytics covers this.
- Capture UTM values in your forms. Add hidden fields for source, medium and campaign that fill in automatically from the link the visitor arrived on. HubSpot does this by default, and most WordPress form plugins can with a small add-on or snippet.
- Pass them into your CRM with each enquiry, so you can report on which campaigns created real opportunities.
Add a "How did you hear about us?" question
Analytics can't see everything. Word of mouth, a conversation at an event or a podcast mention rarely shows up as a tagged visit. A single optional dropdown, "How did you hear about us?", on your contact form fills those gaps. Compare it with your UTM data each month; the differences are often the most useful thing you'll learn.
Common UTM tracking mistakes
- Tagging internal links, which overwrites the real source
- Inconsistent naming, which splits the same channel across several rows in reports
- Forgetting QR codes and email signatures, so offline and everyday traffic is invisible
- Only looking at traffic, instead of which sources lead to enquiries
- Tagging ads that are already auto-tagged, which can conflict with platform data
Questions
What are UTM parameters?
UTM parameters are tags added to the end of a link, such as utm_source and utm_medium, that tell your analytics where a visit came from. They don't change the page the visitor sees.
Which UTM parameters are required?
Use source, medium and campaign on every tagged link. Content, term and ID are optional, for when you need more detail.
Where do I see UTM data in Google Analytics 4?
In the Traffic acquisition report, using dimensions such as Session source / medium and Session campaign. You can add them to explorations too.
Should I use UTMs on Google Ads?
Usually not, if Google Ads auto-tagging is switched on and linked to your GA4 property. Auto-tagging passes richer data. Tag other ad platforms manually.
Do UTM parameters affect SEO?
Not if you only use them on links from other places to your site. Don't use them on internal links, and make sure your pages use canonical tags so tagged versions aren't treated as separate pages.
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